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Terrines seem sophisticated and intimidating, but they’re actually homey and only as complicated as you allow them to be. Like many things French, they’re worth working through the fear factor for. Because all of the cooking is done the day before, you can affect an air of effortlessness at the table: add a salad, bread and wine, and you have a solidly impressive lunch or first course.

Stéphane Reynaud, the chef and author of last year’s all-pig cookbook, “Pork & Sons,” turns his monomania on the traditional narrow rectangular pan for his new book, “Terrine.” He offers recipes for every course and appetite, from a light zucchini summer terrine to a chunky pig’s-head pâté; buttery salmon rillettes to strawberries and mint suspended in gelatin. (Not all of his recipes require a pricey earthenware or enameled cast-iron dish: canning jars, ramekins, soufflé dishes and loaf pans get equal use, as long as they can withstand the water bath in which many of the terrines are cooked.) For Reynaud, the dish’s appeal is that it’s made for sharing: “It’s the convivial dish par excellence,” he said by phone from Villa 9 Trois, his restaurant in Montreuil, just outside Paris. “You make it in advance, so you actually get to spend time with your friends at the table.”

The son of a butcher, Reynaud grew up eating terrines made from all manner of meat, innards and scraps, a kind of ratatouille of the flesh. Some meat terrines are not for the faint of fat, incorporating rich cuts of pork or duck with livers, feet and other bits; strips of bacon or caul fat are traditionally used to line the mold. Such terrines are well suited to adherents of the nose-to-tail, no-waste philosophy. At Gramercy Tavern, Michael Anthony and his team order whole ducks for a dish of glazed breast and leg confit, so they created a luxe terrine to use up the other parts. The recipe calls for 10 duck necks and 10 gizzards, to be minced with duck, pork belly, pistachios, house-cured bacon and something called veal deckle (the fatty part of the brisket), layered around a refined center of Earl Grey-and-Armagnac-steeped figs and wrapped in house-made lardo. Do not try this at home (unless your butcher loves you). Easier terrine recipes await.

Chef Daniel Boulud has been steadfast in his love of terrines. “When they were out of fashion, I was still making them,” he says. “Now that they’re back, I’m going full blast.” They figure prominently at his new wine bar, Bar Boulud, where his chef charcutier, Sylvain Gasdon, devised a springy chicken terrine, flavored with cilantro and Meyer-lemon confit and bound by gelatin rather than fat. “We call it a ladies’ terrine,” Boulud says with a chuckle. “It’s more urban, elegant, delicate.”

Terrines are often elegant in cross section — and delicate too: not all survive the awkward inversion from (heavy) dish to platter. To loosen the loaf, Boulud suggests running hot water around the terrine for 10 seconds before flipping. But perhaps it’s best served as they do at Aux Négociants, a working-class wine bar in Paris, where patrons are simply given a knife and bread.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and stir in the kosher salt. Prepare an ice-water bath. Using a mandoline or a vegetable peeler, slice 2 zucchini lengthwise into 1/8-inch slices. Drop the zucchini into the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds. Transfer to the ice bath to cool. Drain.

2. Quarter the remaining zucchini lengthwise, remove the seeds and cut into ½ -inch dice. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. When hot, add the diced zucchini and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but not colored, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the cream, basil, aniseed, cumin, ¾ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Stir in half of the diced zucchini and oil, then mix in the remainder.

3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Line a 2-quart or 4-by-11-by-3-inch terrine crosswise with overlapping zucchini strips. If needed, lay extra zucchini up the sides. Pour the egg mixture into the zucchini-lined terrine. Cover with foil and place in a roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water in the roasting pan so it comes halfway up the sides of the terrine. Bake until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Before turning out, run a knife along the inside edge of the terrine. Serve warm or cold, sliced. Serves 8. Adapted from “Terrine,” by Stéphane Reynaud.

1. Two days before, whisk the salt and 1 gallon of cold water in a nonreactive 3-gallon container until the salt has dissolved. Submerge the chicken halves in the solution and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Discard the brine and rinse the chickens well in cold water.

2. The day before serving, place the rinsed chickens in a large stockpot and cover in water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil slowly, reduce the heat and skim the water of impurities. Halve 4 of the lemons and add them to the pot, along with the leek, onions, garlic, half of the cilantro, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns, clove and white wine. Bring back to a boil, and gently simmer until the meat can be pulled from the bone, about 45 minutes. Let the chicken cool in the liquid (bouillon).

3. Prepare the Meyer-lemon confit. Squeeze the juice from the remaining 3 lemons over a sieve and chill; scoop the pulp from the rinds and discard it. Place the rinds in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then strain; repeat twice with fresh water. Add the sugar and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer until rinds are tender, 20 minutes. Drain, let cool and cut the rinds into ¼-inch pieces.

4. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and, while warm, separate the meat from the skin and bones, leaving the meat in large chunks. Discard the skin and bones. Strain the bouillon through a sieve lined with three layers of cheesecloth. Discard the vegetables. Weigh the chicken (you should have about 2 ¼ pounds). Measure out the same weight of bouillon as chicken (about 1 quart). (Freeze excess to use later as stock.) Bring the measured bouillon to a boil, and skim the top. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in 1 ounce of gelatin for every 14 ounces of liquid (about ¾ cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons gelatin for 2 ¼ pounds bouillon) until dissolved. Remove from the heat and fold the chicken into the gelatin mixture. (Do not stir or the chicken will become stringy.) When the liquid is just warm, fold in the lemon confit and remaining cilantro. Season with 2 ½ teaspoons salt and ¾ teaspoon pepper. Season to taste with the remaining Meyer-lemon juice and more salt and pepper. (Add a touch more salt than you think is needed, as the flavor becomes muted when chilled.) Transfer to a 2-quart or 4-by-11-by-3-inch terrine, cover with plastic and refrigerate for one day. Turn out, slice and serve at room temperature. Serves 16. Adapted from Bar Boulud.

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Salmon Rillettes

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 ounces salmon fillet, skinned and cut into chunks

Salt

6 ½ tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon crème fraîche

2 sprigs tarragon, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped shallot

Juice of half a lemon

Freshly ground black pepper

4 slices lemon, to garnish

Crusty bread, sliced.

1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the salmon, sprinkle with salt, and cook over high heat until opaque but still slightly raw in the center, 2 to 3 minutes. Put the salmon and 5 ½ tablespoons of the butter in a food processor and puree until smooth and thoroughly combined. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in the crème fraîche, tarragon, shallot andlemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Spoon the mixture into a 1 ½ cup terrine or 4 1/3-cup ramekins, tapping them on the counter to release air bubbles. Lay several lemon slices on top of the terrine or 1 slice on each ramekin. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over low heat and pour just enough over the terrine or ramekins to lightly cover. Chill for 1 hour before serving. Serve with bread. Serves 4. Adapted from "Terrine" byStéphane Reynaud.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page MM55 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Block Party. Today's Paper|Subscribe